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Payroll: Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC)

Hi,

I am a Square Payroll customer/employer. Given that the rules for the Employee Retention Tax Credit have changed  (As of December 2020, businesses now have the opportunity to take out a PPP loan and obtain the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) for both 2020 and 2021.), I'm eagerly awaiting how Square Payroll will allow for the calculation/implementation of this.  Given that these tax credits could be a significant help for some businesses, does Square Payroll plan to file or even guide employers on this? 

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Square

Best Answer

Hello! We're happy to announce that Square Payroll can now help you claim the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) on your Form 941. If you need to claim the ERC for Q1 2021, please contact the Square Payroll Support team by April 21, 2021 with responses to the following questions:

 

  • Is your business eligible for the ERC?
  • What is your ERC amount?
  • What were the total qualified wages used to calculate your ERC amount?
  • Did the qualified wages include health plan expenses? If so, how much?
  • Did you receive an advance credit through Form 7200?

To ensure your business is eligible to claim the ERC and that you are calculating the credit amount accurately, we recommend reading the Employee Retention Credit article in our Support Center. With the recent legislative changes, Square Payroll will be supporting the ability to claim the ERC on Form 941 through the end of the year. If your business continues to be eligible, please contact Square Payroll Support team to report your ERC amounts for future quarters as well! 

 

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Alumni

Our Payroll team would be the best folks to direct this question towards, @Marta! Have you had a chance to get in touch with them yet? If not, when you have a moment, please reach out directly by logging into your Square account and heading here.

Valentina
Community Moderator, Square
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The most recent covid relief bill makes it possible for businesses, even those who took PPP funds, to also take advantage of the employee retention tax credit.  This is a relatively easy credit to calculate and is taken on form 941, which square payroll files.  This can save businesses thousands of dollars (https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonynitti/2020/12/25/breaking-down-the-employee-retention-credit-par...) and needs to be accessible to anyone using square payroll.  It needs a fix immediately.  At the very least, square should allow businesses to file form 941 on their own, and report the form back to square once filed. Otherwise, all of us using square payroll are at a huge disadvantage.  PLEASE FIX THIS FOR THE GOOD OF YOUR CUSTOMERS!

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This also goes for the Minimum Wage Credit that Illinois added to their 941 credit calculations last year. This can be a significant savings for a small company but there is no allowance for that through Square from what I was told by Payroll support today. Please consider making these various tax credits able to be added or provide a means to calculate and include the credit before filing.

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Square Community Moderator

Heya @dmmeyers and welcome to the Community.

 

I reached out to our direct Payroll team on this since none of the Community Square members here are trained in Payroll stuff and they said this would be a feature request.

 

They also said there might be options if you wanted to contact them directly to discuss but it might require you filing and paying federal taxes on your own.

 

 

Ashley C
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Any update re Employee Tax Retention Credit?  ADP is filing on behalf of employees for a small fee.

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @SkateTech,

 

There's nothing new to update here on this.

 

You can contact our Payroll team directly to see what options you have for this but it might require doing some filing on your own and not done by the Payroll team. They can discuss options with you directly.

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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When contacted directly square payroll states that they will still collect the monthly fee but will not file the corrected 941s even with the info given to them by a CPA. Square still gets paid for a service they won't do! Brilliant! 

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This is a significant tax credit that could be used immediately to reduce federal payroll tax payments.  Square needs to implement a feature to at least give the customer the ability to reduce the amount submitted on the employers behalf.  $7k per employee per quarter is huge and will keep us in business for at least 6 months.  We need to switch payroll providers if this change is not immediately made to the payroll system.

 

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Please do file the new 2021 7200 when the ira rolls it out for yourself, then let square know what you got

 

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6854-square-payroll-families-first-coronavirus-response-act-...

Shawn Nickerson
10 Years of Coffee in Bellevue
cafecesura.com
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For any of us that utilizes Square Payroll services and have not taken advantage of the ERTC, Square has already filed our Q4 941's.  The rules regarding the Credit changed again in December allowing more of us to an opportunity to utilize those funds, however, we need Square to help us initiate the credits and advise how we should go about it.  Has anyone heard anything or know how to proceed?

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Square Community Moderator

Hey @coffeeboss206 and welcome to the Community.

 

I moved your post to an existing thread where this question has been addressed already.

 

Check out my Best Answer above.

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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With the new Employee Retention Tax Credit now available, will Square automatically claim this or will we have to file an ammended Form 941?

 

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Super Seller Alumni

That's a great question.  I'd suggest contacting Square Support directly to get a solid answer on this.

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Per my convo with customer service, no, file the 7200 yourself for the first 2 quarters of 2021 then tell square what happened 

 

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6854-square-payroll-families-first-coronavirus-response-act-...

Shawn Nickerson
10 Years of Coffee in Bellevue
cafecesura.com
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I want to claim this federal tax credit for 2020 and 2021.  I use Square Payroll, so they set up the IRS drafts from my account when I run payroll, and they file my federal form 941 quarterly.  Has anyone claimed the credit while also using square payroll?  Any tips or pointers generally?  My forms 941 for 2020 have all been filed so I need to file new forms (ammended 941s?).  Any experience with doing this?

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Square Community Moderator

Hi @mitos,

 

I moved your post to a thread where this question has been answered already.

Check out the Best Answer above for details. 

 

In the future, don't hesitate to search your question first here or on the Support Center for your quickest answer too!

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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Any update on Employee Tax Retention Credit?  ADP files on behalf of employer for a small fee.  

 

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I just spoke to someone from Square Payroll support about processing the ERC for Payroll customers. I was told the Square development team is working on a solution. Awaiting a follow-up email with more specific details as to when it will be rolled out and available. 

 

I suggest contacting Square payroll to apply maximum pressure to get this rolled out ASAP.

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I couldn’t wait anymore so had to switch to intuit. 

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I contacted Square Payroll and the best they could offer was to stop filling 941s and have us do it ourself to capture the ERC.

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